Research assignment

This paper is to be 4 pages in length (not including your Works Cited page), typed and
double-spaced. It must have an informative academic title (ie, not simply TV’ or
‘Analysis of TV’). You are expected to use proper MLA citations, including a Works
Cited page at the end of your paper. Please remember that Works Cited means just that:
works you have actually cited in the body of your essay. Please also remember that if
you do not cite your sources in the body of your essay (as well as in the Works Cited
page), you will have failed to complete the assignment (see The Capilano Writing
Guide pp.124-133 provides a good example of how to do it). If you wish to use APA
instead, that is fine. ON THE FRONT PAGE OF YOUR PAPER, PLEASE
THEREFORE INDICATE WHETHER YOU ARE USING MLA OR APA.
You must refer to at least FOUR separate academic research sources; of course, you
can refer to more if you wish (including non-academic sources). If you do not show at
least four academic sources I reserve the right to fail your assignment for that
reason alone. Please note that the text you are analyzing (ie, the speech, song lyric or
advertising campaign) does not constitute one of your academic sources.
The sources you refer to should be appropriate for academic research; in other
words, you should not refer to encyclopedias or dictionaries (which are not scholarly
resources as such, because they do not take an informed position on an issue, contributing
to our knowledge). The sources you use should be written by people with
academic/scholarly credentials – so, if you are finding your sources on the internet, you
will be looking for sources having a university or professional society affiliation, or an
author having scholarly credentials. Many academic texts are available on the
University’s Library’s site; using this facility is fine. Please note that journalism is not
generally considered academic in nature (by and large, journalists are involved in selling
their publications); you should not therefore include newspaper articles or editorials in
your four academic sources.

Topics(one only)

1
Find a political speech and analyze the language being used; then, broaden
your analysis to take on board the historical and socio-political context of the
speech. This is where your research can come into play: to whom is the
speech being addressed, and why? How clever is the politician in
communicating the message? What is the message? What actually happened
as a result of the speech? Remember, an important part of university writing is
the critical thinking that informs this type of writing. So, what do you think
about the speech? Is it a good speech? How do we define good?’ You see, the
questions never end.

2
Find some advertisements, and analyze their use of language. Use your
research to explore how language is being used to manipulate the
listener/reader. Then go a step further: what does this use of language say
about one of the following: gender, sexuality, race, class, culture, politics, the
environment? Think about beer adverts, or hybrid cars.

3
Find a hip-hop song lyric (or set of lyrics) and analyze the use of language.
What is the message of the song, and how is it being communicated by the
language? Then, broaden your analysis: what does this type of language say to
the youth of today? Is it good/healthy? If so, why? If not, why not? Are there
any (academic) studies that you can draw on relating to the influence of hip-
hop lyrics on the youth of today? What do you think?